Como estas? This is clip from a recent Detox Your Life workshop in Bogota Colombia. (Description in English below this video).

If your Spanish is John Cleese, Fawlty Towers impressive, know that I’m talking about sleep, and how we do it for many many hours in our life time, 1000’s of hours, actually years! During those years we are constantly breathing and absorbing through your skin whatever it is you wash your bedding with.

Th example I give is of my amazing mum’s neighbor who was getting sicker and sicker, with respiratory problems and a nasty cough. I instantly recommended to my mum that it could be linked to her laundry detergent, or at least that the laundry detergent was NOT helping matters. Mum, as mothers often do, pretty much dismissed my tip at the time, only to call me a few months later telling her neighbor is much much healthier now because she switched out her laundry detergent for a natural, plant based detergent.

Her original reasoning was that companies making the laundry detergents wouldn’t legally be aloud to used ingredients that were harmful to humans… really?

The thing is maybe today you’re fine, maybe in a year or so you’re fine, but down the line, decades of sleeping with chemicals later, surely it’s better to just do the common sense thing and switch to a natural plant based biodegradable laundry detergent?

AND, this is without even touching on the environmental benefits of using plant based, biodegradable laundry detergents. Awesome. I leave it up to you…

4)Fat free, sugar free, 99% fat free, lite, light, low fat, gluten free, paleo and other words they use on packaging are often used to distract you from something else. Treat them as warning signs – read the ingredients. Maybe it’s low fat and high sugar, or fat free, sugar free and full of aspartame / acesuflame K / fructose.

This brand have gone for an all out lie, see if you can spot the inconsistency:

Ingredients: LACTOSE, DEXTROSE, and finally Stevia (1%)

Artisan or Artisanal is the latest word that is being used and destroyed by marketers.

Fit, 0% Fat, Sugar and a ‘sexy’ lady on…. a LOAF OF BREAD! LOL?

N.B some brands that use those words on their packaging are highly ethical and high quality foods. Addictive Wellness for example are one of the highest ethics brands I know and they use sugar free, dairy free, gluten free. This is why the people driving the brands are once again becoming the important factor. I know that if Sage or Anna-Blanca (of Addictive wellness) bring out another product it will be of the highest integrity.

5) 77% of all percentage statistics are often meaningless. Literally utter nonsense ;)… My internal dialogue to statements such as ‘95% of people on this diet lose 10% body fat in 6 weeks’ “Cool? that’s interesting… I don’t even wonder what the actual results were because percentage statistics interest me not at all”

6) Comparing yourself to cover models, social media models, competing cross fitters or anyone else for that matter is a lost cause. They are not you. Your constitution, lifestyle, goals, thoughts and desires are completely different. Besides, many of these physiques (along side hard training) are the result growth hormone, steroids, or Photoshop.

7) Eat more fat, and less sugar. Fat from the right sources of course; grass fed meats, ghee, coconut oil, extra V olive oil, avocado, some oil supplements, high quality cacao, dulce seaweed, chontaduro (South America) to name but a few.

8) Learn how to make PROPER SMOOTHIES and BLENDS and get a decent blender.

9) Remove your allergens. Figure out what foods you are eating that you are having a bad reaction. I.e your allergens and stop eating them. Do this by eliminating the common suspects: soy, lactose, wheat, corn, tree nuts, eggs, dairy then adding the ones you REALLY want to eat after 4 weeks without them.

10) Alternative medicine.Traditional Chinese medicine has been developing for 1000’s of years. The highly effective medical system takes Hippocrates ‘let food be thy medicine’ f statement literally and is widely available in developed countries now. They look at the person’s food and lifestyle (often the root of illness) and make changes there rather than masking it with pharmaceutical prescription drugs.

11) Rich, think twice before getting all of those vaccinations for your travels later in life. Find an alternative, question the ingredients, or take alternative trip.

12) Instead of running for 1+ hours 5 times per week, there is a more effective way to burn fat and create the physique you want. Lifting weights and doing HIIT high intensity interval training will helpo increase testosterone which will help build muscle and burn fat. And remember to change it up every 6 weeks or so to keep your training effective.

13) Giveaway / destroy all of the cans of fizzy pop (soda) in the house, you and your mum don’t need them. She will quit later in life anyway when you become a fitness professional and advise here.

14) Quality over eating anything. We are so privileged in our lives to have the choice of grain fed vs. grass fed, organic over non-organic, we don’t have to eat GMO foods, we can choose the higher quality. Choose fasting over eating the artificial / highly processed / tortured animal alternative.

15) Keep drumming, but also add some silent meditation in there. Like practicing scales on a musical instrument, rudiments on the drums or technique in any sport, will help you in the real the real performance later, silent meditation is like practicing not to react to stressful situations in the future.

16) Your body is made of cells, inside the cells are molecules, inside the molecules are atoms and inside the atom… WOAH! Let me tell you, it’s just ever changing energy. You are made of every changing energy. And guess what? So is everyone and everything else………

This is NOT a bunch of dumb dieting health tips for Christmas & 2016

These health tips can be used any time, any day, any month, any year.

But, the thing with this list, as with ALL health advice – IT DEPENDS.

Found the latest fat burning health food? That’s interesting… but I don’t really care and neither should you because IT DEPENDS. Your mate just told you about the ketogenic diet or they stopped eating potato skins and their fingernails doubled in strength? That’s interesting too, but I don’t really care about that either and neither should you because IT DEPENDS.

You are different.

You are a unique expression of a human being and their diet or superfood might just be your kryptonite, or not, it depends. Get the picture 🙂 ? Your lifestyle, family, friends, city, mountain, village, sleep pattern, the season, your constitution and a billion other things… all make your answer to all general health advice – “well, that depends, surely?”

Ready for it? (Remember this list also DEPENDS).

Health Tip 1) Intermittent fasting (I.F)?

Just like gravity always did and probably always will – I.F still works. It works because fasting is not some dumb dieting trick – it’s a normal thing for humans to do – not eating for a period of time is OK. Thousands of years ago, even 50 to 100 years ago, food was not ALWAYS around and available and snacking (one of the dumbest things to do if you’re looking to burn fat) wasn’t really done.

The reason intermittent fasting is worth playing with this holiday (DEPENDING) is because it gives your organs a few extra hours to deal with nasty foods it has to clean out. The time not eating also helps promote health hormonal balance in your body.

The basic principle of IFing is don’t eat for 16 hours of the 24 in a day. Easy right? Then if you want to supercharge it – make your first meal high-ish in protein. Click here for a really long and detailed post about it.

Health Tip 2) Bicarbonate of Soda / Sodium Bicarbonate

(with lemon for antioxidants) is a quick fix for acid reflux. Really that shit is a literally saving lives. Don’t tolerate acid after indulgence – fix it. If the acid goes on for more than a day or so it’s worth checking in with your doc or ‘checking in’ with your thinking and food – something is not agreeing with you. The reason for doing it yourself is because commercial anti-acids are often full of unnecessary added ingredients.

It’s not my recipe but some say 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda + 1/2 glass of water is the way forward. (The ‘Home Remedies’ link at the bottom of this page has a nice list of ways to use it).

PS. If you don’t get acid reflux someone by you probably does so pass the tip on, you will make someones day!! Literally transforming their week!

PPS. This is just a short term fix,not a long term health strategy. See your doctor, TCM doctor or health practitioner.

PPPS. Getting more alkaline foods in your mouth, giving yourself a good 3 hours between your last meal and sleep could be your longer term strategy for sorting acid reflux. If the problem persists see your doctor.

Health Tip 3) Meditate or find something to do on your own.

(without mixing your ‘energy’ with anyone else).

I like to drink a tea, practice drumming or stick patterns, train, walk, or a vipassana style meditation. Lovely…

This will give you a minute to settle your mind and to help you not react to family pressures.

By giving yourself a few minutes on your own, 15+ mins is good, you can find space in your mind and energy to give compassion to whoever or whatever it is that’s annoying you. The deeper level of pain, confrontation, anger, annoyance within a family setting is a deeper unconscious pain that ‘wants’ to come to the surface. The goal is to not react. Go to you tube and check out Eckhart Tolle’s ‘Pain Body’ for more on that. It’s a life enhancing perspective/metaphor.

Health Tip 4) Aim for more nutrients per calorie.

BORING right… and it works. But this also depends.

If you’re still counting calories please give release yourself of that boring pointless restrictive way of eating. Find a way to tune in to how you feel. There is this magical feeling when you let go of all that head work around food and actually get in touch with how it feels to be eating right for your body.

The first step here is to know that a calorie doesn’t equal a calorie – i.e 200 calories of sausage on a stick probably has more nutrients than 200 calories of ‘chocolate mouse light’. The mouse light is probably full of artificial sweeteners BUT the sausage probably came from a pig that was pumped full of hormones and plumped up on GMO feed. My advice there is buy at least organic and grassfed, avoid the word ‘light’ at all costs and if you’re not into eating animals then make sure your vegan way of eating is giving you the nutrients you need too because there are plenty of pointless vegan foods out there 😉

Blending vegetables into a smoothie is an awesome way to get more nutrients in there, especially because you get to keep the fiber!

Health Tip 5) You don’t have to eat shitty food.

It’s OK to say no. Just because your family (yes that includes your partner) or friends are smashing a load of cookies and ice cream riddled with artificial nonsense doesn’t mean you have to. They have their knowledge, wisdom and feeling with food and alcohol and they will be acting from where they are. Remember it depends. Maybe their body is more adept at digesting that food or booze, maybe they had a MASSIVE workout that day and their body is burning like a steam engine, or maybe they just don’t care that much.

By all means, get involved, give yourself the freedom to eat anything and everything you desire and without the guilt trip because ‘Mind over matter’ is more powerful than you can imagine. If you do, the next day can probably be helped by intermittent fasting and baking soda the next day can help your body clear out the junk.

A thought on this mind over matter business… I remember seeing a documentary on centenerians. They were looking at their health, lifestyle, food, habits and seeing if they could draw any conclusions to reasons for their longevity. There was a Scottish guy at the end who really struck a chord with me. He was the mechanic in the village, the only mechanic – he helped everyone. He also chain smoked cigarettes and drank alcohol every day… He was living well! But how!? He was loving life, and everyone in the community needed him to be alive. “They just wont let me die…” were the words that closed the documentary. Food for though right? Thinking about the placebo and nocebo effect (the mind healing or harming an individual) this guy had nailed it. BUT I suspect that if he nourished his physicla body with local, organic foods he might just be the first human to levitate!

Health Tip 6) Fat – it’s OK to eat it. You know that right?

And this depends too – mainly on how it’s cooked and the source. But really, you know fat is OK already right? Sugar, processed foods, stress, a job/life you hate, is probably what’s messing with you the most – both body and mind. Zoe Harcombe nails the fat myth here… Oh noooo but what about cholesterol…. read this by Zoe Harcombe.

Remember how Time Magazine fucked things up a few years back…?

(The cover photo on the left in 1984 was the wrong, misguided perhaps part of an Astroturfing strategy to sell cholesterol medication. The cover on the right in 2014 was their revised message)

When it comes to getting the health benefits of eating fat make sure you get the quality and how/if it is cooked right.

7) You are already AWESOME and do not need a diet plan.

People often think they need to burn fat to become healthy when the opposite is true and feels a millions times better: be healthy both in your body and mind and understand your body’s true needs the fat will drop off…

Thank you for reading this, I assume that at least one of the words on this page has meant something to you.

Why bother sharing this information?

The reason I write these blog posts is because I want more and more people to get this kind of information… as many as possible. The more high quality, well researched, unbiased and exploratory information on food and health the better.

The stages of truth in health are very real – why wait until science ‘proves’ something when it has been practiced in real life, without sponsors, for many years.

Too much of the readily available health information is strategically controlled through ‘Astroturfing’, the script is written, all the way from the pharmaceutical industry (who continue to shoot themselves in the foot) to the newspapers (don’t ), the to nestle, herbalife, and most of the other There is plenty of info like this out there but I guess you’re reading this one. can be disseminated (nice word right?) that will very soon lead to an un-biased maybe silent investor/sponsor. Some corporations seem to be very slowly turning their ways around, other ethical companies are popping up all around now, Castle Rock in California are transforming the bottled water industry, Addictive Wellness are nailing it with their chocolate, LivingTea.net are sharing the World’s cleanest tea, the Wellbeingnow Seminar in the UK is bringing together people with powerful messages and Mcroaid International are just awesome They’re not paying me to mention them, they deserve it…

Related articles:

Still confused about GMO? Watch this the video at the bottom of this post…

Why scientific studies often SUCK and it is almost impossible to trust mainstream media

Sharyl Attkisson, CBS investigative journalist, simply breaks it all down in this TED talk:

It reminds me of the GMO (genetically modified organism) ‘studies’ that are out there.

The next 3 bullet points outline the video above and describe a manipulation practice known as “astroturf” or (astroturfing):

1) Scientific studies (third party studies included) are often paid for by people with invested interests (for example the owners of a sleeping pill begin a media frenzy about people not sleeping enough, tell you to ‘ask your doctor’ who too often, especially in the US, is paid by the owners of the sleeping pill). Replace the words ‘sleeping pill’ with cholesterol pill, this vaccine. that vaccine, red meat, fat etc)

2) The owners of the pill create an online story around their product. They dominate Wikipedia (anyone can edit it) and search results for the illness their pill is associated with, adding further false ‘evidence’ to the story and your inquest.

3) Part of the story the create involves discrediting doctors or health professionals who have genuine guidance for you. The owners pay doctors or accredited names to label these people as quacks or phonies.

That whole system described above is rigged to manipulate your mind and control who you trust and influence you into buying their products.

GMO is a hot topic when it comes to the manipulation of the media. This guy is putting forward some solid facts about big agriculture, Monsanto and Genetically Modified Organisms:

‘Dig the well before you are thirsty’

(Chinese Proverb)

All being well, if you cut your arm (don’t try this) what happens? It heals right. Miraculously, all by itself. If the human body is sick or out of balance, get it back in balance and it will most likely do the same. That is one of the goals of Traditional Chinese Medicine – to get the human back into balance; through lifestyle, food, acupuncture and herbs.

Remember the whole Yin and Yang thing? Balance.Want to live well and long? Balance is your goal.

You good?

I hope so… if so read on..

if not, definitely read on..

This is a full-on read about the future (and past) of health.

PS. This is not about eating soy 😉

Intro:

The practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) uses some or all of the following in order to achieve balance in the human – lifestyle change (food and stress), acupuncture, acupressure, herbs and massage.

Making changes in life are often the hardest thing for a human to do, even if the outcome of not changing means sickness and early death. Western medicine too often focuses on patching up the symptom (symptoms being messages from your body – HEY SOMETHING IS GOING ON!) where as TCM goes deeper, both soothing the symptoms while getting to the root of the cause.

With Tu Youyou recently receiving a Nobel prize for her life’s dedication to and working with TCM, it is very obvious to me that TCM is about to receive the credit and exposure it deserves. People often use TCM alongside Western medicine to heal their sickness.

…if you have 2 more minutes do read on.

Notes:
1) Western medicine has it’s place in this World, but with a bit of prevention you just be able to steer clear.
2) I do not support the use of animal parts in Traditional Chinese Medicine. There are herbal alternatives.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

Sh*t hit the fan at the beginning of the 20th century when scientists were confronted with the fact that their most fundamental principle, mantra, belief if you will, was flawed. Flawed all the way to the center of the atom (there is an interesting video by Bruce Lipton Phd on this at the bottom of this page)

The basic problem was that they thought the atom was solid, it isn’t. Inside the atom is energy.

(This situation is kind of like how; they thought the World was flat, and they were ‘right’, but it wasn’t)

2000+ years ago the Chinese had no idea that in 2000 years scientists would finally be getting around to quantum physics – you know, looking inside physical matter at what is actually there – energy.

Thousands of years ago physicians of TCM didn’t know how to look inside a cell, molecule or atom… But they did know that there is more to the human than just physical flesh and bones. Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on the fact that a human is made of energy (known as Qi) and, that Western medicine began based on a fallacy.

“Even though this energy can’t be touched or measured, they believe that Qi (Life-force energy) is running through us and every living thing in the Universe including food ” (Deperon and Enion, 2015)

Two completely different foundations, and foundations are everything right? Remember that old age saying; keep building on a shaky foundation and you will end up with an obesity epidemic and millions of people paying billions of dollars for medication(?)

Traditional Chinese Medicine has evolved over thousands of years of research and practice. The learnings are passed on between practitioners and the herbs and remedies are not protected by patents.

(By the way, yes I have experienced many TCM treatments including acupuncture and herbs. The more I research and experience treatments (it’s actually awesome for maintenance too) the more I love it and want to share this information with you).

Side note: Western medicine has its place, I’m sure. Because there is a lot of mis-information out out there about Chinese Medicine, often the purpose of this article is to show you the benefits of wisdom from the East that has been around for 1000’s of years.

INTERESTING FACT: Recently (Winter 2015) Tu Youyou (pharmacologist at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences) was awarded a Nobel Prize (and $900k+) for her research and work in discovering a therapy for malaria (artemisinin being the specific extract from Artemisia Annua). Artemisinin was proven to be an improvement on the drug Chloroquine which the malaria parasites have developed a resistance to. Oh, by the way she’s 84 years old and awesome.

Artemisia Annua

Chloroquine

4 insights into Traditional Chinese Medicine:

1) Sickness or illness is viewed as stagnation.
In order to heal or balance the human the stagnation needs to be relieved – unblocked if you will.

Compare that to “you have illness X and here are you pills”. Not cool… Or do you like taking the pills? TCM can get stagnation flowing again in a number of ways, often starting with lifestyle and eating habits, closely followed by acupuncture and then herbs (taken orally or applied topically). Know that there is no actual order for the treatments and it is a human by human diagnosis and administration of treatment. So, in TCM illness is viewed as something that is happening in the moment rather than a final diagnosis.

2) The medicine you eat/drink/take is herbs.
After balancing food and lifestyle then come the herbs. They’re potent and get to work performing a number of functions depending on the symptoms (messages from the body). Some dry from the inside out, some add moisture, some warm, other cool, some give energy and others calm. The combination of herbs you are given will be based on you. (more on this in point 4 below).

IMPORTANT NOTE: herbs are not to be depended on (unlike many of the unnecessary prescriptions in Western medicine), they are to help create balance while other changes are being made (lifestyle and food)

Note: Herbs are sometimes prescribed straight away depending on the practitioner and the state of the human.

3) The body is viewed as a mini version of the Universe and that it is completely connected to the immediate and greater environment.

I love the perspective of Dr Bruce Lipton who lectures about the body being made of cells, inside the cells are molecules, then atoms and inside the atom? Energy (Qi)

(This is a key principle in TCM and it is science- quantum physics).

4) Everything is comprised of the ever changing Five Elements. Fire, Earth, Wood, Metal, and Water symbolically represent everything.

Metaphorically speaking too much of the ‘fire’ element in a human could manifest as night sweats or acid reflux. Too much of the ‘water’ element might show up as ‘loose poop’. The critical factor in treating imbalances in the elements is the correct diagnosis followed by the right balance of herbs and lifestyle changes to address the imbalance. An example; someone that has too much fire and water would both need to dry the water and cool the fire (symbolically speaking of course). It’s important to remember that the elements in the environment are always changing too (Think seasons – summer is more fiery than winter, which is cooler and perhaps more damp) and so that is one reason it is beneficial to eat local because the food will be in season and in tune with the environment it is born from.

Other awesome stuff they do in the East:

– Squat to poop. I started doing that when I was around 21, and in so many years have only downed one toilet – yep, the whole toilet fell onto its side and I ended up with one foot in and one out (re-pooping thankfully). When you squat (butt below knees) you relax your insides allowing an easier poop and for more volume to be released. By doing this safely over time you also strengthen your knees and open your hips – useful in old age – just ask your nanna or someone elses’.

– They eat white rice. It’s more easily digested than brown rice which contains the whole husk. White rice is not necessarily great for someone who urgently needs to burn fat but for the most part it’s more easily digested and generally recommend as part of a meal for someone especially if they have a weak digestion. The labor intense lives of the Chinese, especially a few hundred / thousand years ago, was well suited to the fast releasing carbs like white rice. Oh my, so much more to say on that subject but I will leave it there for now.

– Seaweed is a staple in the Asian diet (not wheat). Seaweed is a great (real food) source of iodine giving 3000 to 5000 micrograms of iodine per day. In the the West they simply added an extract to table salt which is inferior real food and potentially dangerous (Mercola, 2013)

– Asians tend to eat much more fish than Westerners giving them a more balanced Om3 to Om6 ratio. (‘Are fish safe to eat?’ and ‘are we killing all of the fish?’ are a whole other conversation).

– They tend to eat most of the animal including making broths and soups by boiling the bones to pull out much needed minerals.

– Asians meditate and walk more than most in the West.

– Fermented food is common in Asia – this is a process that helps remove the plant’s natural defense mechanism making it more easier to digest. AND the fermented foods (like cabbage and tea) nourish the human with brilliant bacteria.

Advantages of Traditional Chinese Medicine:

+ Using herbs means no chemical.

+ It works to heal rather than destroy. Western medicine appears to focus on destroying the problem and everything in it’s path often including the immune system and bacteria critical to the health and healing of a human being.

+ Side effects are few and far between – increasing compliance – people more likely to actually take the herbs knowing they are going to feel alrigh (NCBI, 2001). Compared to common side effects of pharmaceuticals; death, nausea, constipation, drowsiness, pain and you have a no-brainer.

+ Cost is minimal (especially in comparison to pharma)

+ Can heal and prevent major illnesses which would often be diagnosed as terminal in Western medicine.

+ The job of the TCM practitioner is more than just healing you. Remember the old ‘give a man a fish’ metaphor? This is the way TCM is helping the human race with its health – offering learning on finding and keeping ones own balance.

+ Western medicine defines health as the absence of illness. Fuck not being ill, what about being awesome!

+ ‘Fresh, local food and herbs when needed’ is pretty much their eating ‘philosophy’

Getting Traditional Chinese Medicine right:

– Herb quality is very important – like food, soap even deodorant if you use it – anything that goes in your body should be the most nourishing as possible – especially medicine. You can get this right by having your practitioner referred to you by someone in the know and doing a little research yourself first.

– It can take longer to cure a disease using TCM but TCM is known for curing, removing the tail or root of the disease rather than merely covering up a symptoms.

– It takes commitment by the patient (you might have to boil herbs to make the medicine) where in Western medicine you just take a pill, though some TCM practitioners use herbs in capsule form.

– If you are taking Western medicine and see a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine it is critical that you report this to your new doctor, and vice versa (NCBI, 2001).

– It can take a bit of time finding the right practitioner for you. My experience was as well as seeing my awesome acupuncturist in LA I used to drive to San Francisco to see a specialist too.

The antibiotics factor:

“Antibiotics” Phillip Ward, Practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine says “When it comes to treating a life threatening infection there is no other type of medicine/herb that has benefited the world as much as antibiotics. He goes on to say “The fact that they <antibiotics> are widely over prescribed is a whole other issue. But, for example, if you have a legitimate infection in your heart or kidneys there is no time to mess around and antibiotics should be prescribed immediately. In general, TCM does not deal with urgent illnesses of that nature and magnitude as well as Western medicine. This is why hospitals in China use the best of both worlds (TCM and Western pharmaceuticals) to treat patients. The beauty of living in this time of existence is that we can use more modern medicines like antibiotics to rid ourselves of a dangerous infection and then use TCM to recover and strengthen our system to prevent possible infections in the future. Although, there seems to be a shift brewing with medical doctors on the horizon western medicine’s biggest pitfall is educating patients on how to stay healthy. They focus on treating diseases and put very little if any emphasis on staying healing and the importance of a balanced life (healthy eating, proper sleep, adequate movement and exercise, healthy relationships) This is where TCM does its best work. We (TCM practitioners) have the means to treat serious illness but our primary focus is to keep our patients healthy. The forefathers of TCM realized 3000 years ago that it is easier to stay healthy than it is cure a disease”.

I would LOVE to read your thoughts and comments about this (this is your queue to write a comment)

Dave Asprey, the creator of Bullet Proof, is on a mission…. bringing high quality foods and beverages to the World. Foods (cacao and coffee being two of his biggies) selected based on research into their integrity. I like this bloke and his products. Make up your own mind when you’ve watched these videos and tried the foods he is bringing to us…

I met a few of the Bullet Proof staff, one of whom I interviewed at the Bullet Proof Cafe launch party in Santa Monica about why she left a more than comfortable corporate job creating and delivering F**ked up marketing strategies aimed at kids, for a more ethical journey… (yep this lady is one of the brains behind toys and ‘happy’ style meals) Well done to *** for seeing the light and leaving ***…. check her out here:

David Wolfe and I have a chat about how being too ‘paleo’ or too ‘vegan’ can ruin your health… It’s all in the mind.

Are you TOO vegan or TOO paleo? When does health become an obsession?

Could your healthy way of eating become a new kind of eating disorder? Too much ‘control’ and aversion? Too much thinking and energy spent on your next meal…

David Wolfe is always fun to interview, we chatted more about the paleo diet, the vegan diet and how mindset plays such a huge role in…. well in everything! If your mind is causing you tension it can undo all of the good foods that you’re nourishing your body with.

A quote from our forthcoming book “Your body doesn’t care what your food philosophy is, it needs what it needs”. That’s not to say don’t be vegan or don’t be paleo… it’s just how you think about it and feel when you’re eating and who you’re judging while you’re getting on with your meal/life.

If you’re vegan and a paleo hater or paleo and a vegan hater I’m going to suggest you’re not adding the kind of energy to yourself or the planet you might think you are. We are all on our journey making mistakes, learning and growing… the person in the ‘opposite’ food-religion as you needs you hating them as much as you do them.

Granted there are some very important questions and changes to be made in the way animals are treated but if you’re vegan and feeling anger and tension towards paleo peeps then that anger is only doing you an injustice. If you’re paleo hating on vegans…. same deal.

The fact that paleos and vegans both consider the integrity of their food and how it affects them, in my opinion, is a brilliant thing. Where each person grows from there is their own journey. Learn, encourage, share, be passionate, give yourself a break and ease up on the hate.

PS. I speak on this from my very own strict, fairly intense Paleo past.